SERIE A: Juventus victory shrouded in yet more controversy

Arturo Vidal of Juventus, second left, scores against Catania in their Serie A match at the Stadio Angelo Massimino in Catania, Italy, on Sunday.

Photo: Reuters

Controversy with more betting implications returned to Italy’s top flight on Sunday as Juventus extended their lead and nine-man SS Lazio dropped to fourth after a bad-tempered away defeat to ACF Fiorentina.

Arturo Vidal’s 57th-minute winner against Catania helped Juve extend their lead at the top of Serie A and took their unbeaten streak to 48 matches.

Juventus now have a three-point lead on second-placed SSC Napoli, who came through a tough encounter at home to AC Chievo Verona before prevailing thanks to Marek Hamsik’s 59th-minute winner.

However, the Turin giants’ eighth win in nine games came amid huge controversy.

Argentine striker Ruben Bergessio had tapped a rebound from Nicolas Spolli’s glancing header past Gianluigi Buffon in the Juve goal to give Catania a 27th-minute lead and send the Sicilian fans wild.

Buffon, celebrating his 500th Serie A appearance, looked to have been fairly beaten, but Catania’s celebrations were cut short when the referee disallowed the opener after consulting with his assistant, who said Bergessio was offside.

Club president Antonino Pulvirenti was sent from a furious Catania bench and later complained: “For me, that’s the end of football.”

“Bergessio’s goal was cancelled by the Juve bench,” he said. “The referee and the linesman gave the goal, but after protests from the Juve bench they went back on their decision.”

As well as Catania, the victory — by a side which has twice been stripped of league titles (2004-2005 and 2005-2006) for their role in a match-fixing scandal — did not go down well elsewhere.

Despite the Sicilians’ defeat, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power announced it had paid out to punters who backed them to win.

It activated the “Justice Payout” system in Italy for the first time and explained in a statement: “Sometimes the result is so unfair that it’s simply a fair reimbursement.”